memory_gammafandomcom-20200214-history
User blog:Lindsay Lohan Phoenix/Star Trek: Concepts of Utopia and Dystopia
This will be my 1st official blog for Memory Gamma so I must carefully choose my words carefully (also my browsers spell check doesn't hurt either) but recently Ive really been getting into Dystopian fiction and films. Actually ive been watching these sort of media for a while Ive been looking more into it after purchasing a copy of 1984 and began growing a small fascination with the concepts of Utopian and Dystopian societies and none other then Star Trek and Memory Gamma itself is an better example for both of these concepts. Lets look at a comparison of both forms of society within Trek Canon and fanon. 1st lets start with... 1. Utopia The main speculative fiction concept in Star Trek is that of utopia as was 1st conceptualized by the great writer and philosopher Plato and then later expanded and named by Sir Thomas More basically by its modern definition is a society that has fully embraced the concept of true equality and maintain a general pacifist attitude (although its citizens are all ready to fight if need be). Along with this The evils of society, eg: poverty, starvation, and misery, are all removed. Also either the concept or actual process of an monetary trade system is eliminated thus removing the before mentioned poverty along with general greed and the impediment of technical evolution mainly due to the lack of monetary funds and resources. Also another mark is the combined social and moral balance of technology with humanity which manages to further advance the average standard of living and comfort for every individual (regardless of species). However one counterpoint (besides Bookworm1138's thoughts on the treatment of Orions) is the meeting of 19th century writer and satirist Mark Twain with the crew of USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) in one TNG episode. in the episode Twain sees the Enterprise interior and crew after the ship travels into the past. While being shown this and being given a short explanation on what human society in the 24th century has become Twain quickly doesn't believe this and rationalizes that any society with this much control over this much technical and military power must have some sort of absolute control or hold over the ships alien crewmembers essentially making them slaves. While the crew tries to convince Twain that this is not the case, Twain politely refuses to believe other wise (this however can be construed in a real-world sense that this was simply the opinion of a man from an post Civil War society that could not conceive of either an American or global society evolving past the concepts of monetary dependence and an European imposed societal system of Upper and Lower classes.) Never the less Star Trek on an overall is one of the perfect examples of what is either considered an Technological or Scientific Utopia that many real life scientists strive for. However throughout most of the series (and all or most of its spinoffs) long history the shows characters never categorize themselves or the society they live in as "Utopian" only as a society that was far better then it was before and striving to become better so it would not ruin or deconstruct the societies of other species. Also as they say all is not as peaceful or there is "Trouble in Paradise" within Star Trek mainly in the sense that while "World Peace" has been achieved (a general concept which has been strived for and been made as an ultimate humanitarian goal by numerous philosophers, social activists and religious leaders since before the birth of Christ himself and far afterwards to the present day.) externally outside of the Earth a large portion of the rest of the Galaxy is still under some sort of hostile rule from some sort of dictatorship or conquering force or armada. However in fairness many people have wished or prayed for universal peace, although its most likely that this hope is more so directed towards Humanity and not the actual universe itself mainly due to the fact that most (not even in Star Trek before Vulcan 1st Contact) haven't the belief in other worlds populated with sentient or complex thinking species. It is due to this main flaw within the Trek Utopian concept that war and general conflict for Humanity is seemingly near endless and unending burden that if does not come from within then does come from some sort of malevolent or literally Alien minded external force. This can all be explained with an simpler termed phrase from comedian Chris Rock basically even if you took away all the guns, bombs, and every other weapon on planet Earth, Man would still find a way to be violent. Even if they had to resort to stone age weapons of stones and sticks or even only their bare hands to only strangle someone in someway or form if not total annihilation then general war would still exist. Thus in a certain sense this is also true in Star Trek, Simply put even though Humanity managed to remove all of its violent tendencies war is still an inevitability only now coming from outside sources. It is also due to this societal belief flaw that if humanity is at peace then so must be the rest of the galaxy that leaves Humanity at a slight disadvantage. The reason for this is that for all of the Federations Phasers and Photon Torpedos they still somewhat live in an vaguely risky optimistic view that most of the species within the Galaxy are inherently benevolent and pose no danger to the rest of the civilized galaxy. And while not to sound too much like a pessimist that while in an overall sense this is generally true, never the less Federation crews always seem to make 1st contact seemingly without any or little form of military backup, emergency heavy weaponry, or some sort of elaborate series of plans incase of hostile actions from any newly met species. Another part of this belief flaw which is shared by even our own current military is the belief that all other hostile factions even that of other species share the same motivational reasons for war and destruction as we (Humans) do and that if these reasons were eliminated then the rest of the Galaxy will enter an era of peace similar to Earth. And while that is true of some Trek species (mainly Cardassians, Klingons, and even the Suliban, Xindi, and the Dominion to an extent) there are more then a few whose motivations are simply so mechanical and alien (and or so completely nihilistic) that there is no other option then conflict. Q had taught this lesson all too harshly well by forcing 1st contact with the Borg and the Federation. The Borg had no motivations of power, racism, or any general hatred or hostility towards any species they had encountered. Their goals were simple, survival and expansion and nothing more. Although in actuality these lessons were already learned by the crew of the original Enterprise in the TOS Era. as they had already had encountered several species from outside our Galaxy or reality (both sentient and non-sentient) who even by comparison to the Borg had machinations even more alien and nihilistic then any Delta Quadrant species ever encountered. many seemed to want nothing more then to get rid of our galaxy for unknown reasons or to eliminate all sentient life (or all forms of life period) to make room for their own species. So in overall while in an general sense Humanity is an overall seemingly (at least in appearance) Utopian. As the main characters in trek constantly insist that there is always even in utopia room for improvement. Which leads us to the 2nd opposite or "Mirrored" story concept if you will. Which is... 2. Dystopia Dystopia is an central story concept that has been expanded, explored, and written about more than many other forms of speculative fiction. Dystopia is written about far more then Utopian fiction basically because it is perceived as an far more believable story mainly based on either the authors or current societies own fears of the world and in a certain sense of their own selves that they too will become what is written. Dystopia is also the central basis for the Mirror universe and several other realities in both Trek Canon and Fanon. Within Dystopian fiction including and centrally within Star Trek there are 3 distinct schools of story form, These are.. *1. Orwellian: This most well known story form was named after its creator British author George Orwell and is centered around his Magnum Opus (masterpiece) Novel 1984. After which all or most other Dystopian fiction is centered around this main story concept. Basically all Orwellian style stories are based around the idea of an dictatorship that controls and monitors its subjects into the extreme where even all emotions and thought (even in private) are banned or disallowed. this leads to an society that lives in seemingly constant subtle depression and squalor. *2. Randian: Randian Fiction is named after its well renound author and philosopher Ayn Rand. In Randian fiction many stories center around an heroic figure who mainly at risk of health, or mainly loss of personal wealth and basic ability for day to day survival firmly stands by their own personal and moral beliefs and principals against not any governmental structure but the majority of the whole of society itself. or as in a small few stories the protagonist stands behind the central moral ideals of the government that they work for and is not afraid to blatantly speak out when they know that the system is wrong and stand up for whatever the system originally stood for. *3. Roddenberryian While not an official term Roddenberryian Dystopian Fiction named obviously after Star Treks creator Gene Roddenberry is the central story concept form in all or most Dystopian stories and/or societies within all Star Trek series as an general whole. This story form will be explained in more detailed terms later. Now let us explore these forms in various trek stories. Orwellian Orwellian forms of story telling are rare in Star Trek to the point of near non existence. Mainly this is due to the fact that Gene Roddenberry wanted to venture away from these form of stories which he saw as depressing and in his own opinion unrealistic and instead made generally far more optimistic stories. However there are a small few examples of Orwellian story forms in trek stories. For a main example Cardassians appear to live in an "Big Brother" like society however they do not feel oppressed or overly controlled as many Orwellian heroes tend to express (This will be later explained in the Roddenberryian area of this blogs section). Another example is the depiction of Humanity during the post atomic war era of the late-mid 21st century as is shown in TNG episode "Encounter at Farpoint". the society shown there appears to be remotely Orwellian in the sense that portions of Human society appear to the brutally controlled by warlords and are frequently given violent executions. It can also be said that after the fall of the Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe Humanity under Klingon enslavement live Orwellian existences. There are little to no examples of Orwellian fiction within Trek fan fiction. Star Trek: Conflict Randian The central example or Randian fiction (either within Canon or Fanon) is the series Conflict in where its central protagonist Edward Shield can be perceived as an Randian hero in many senses. Centrally by standing for the central principals of the Federation (even though at times even before the stories events occur the Federation appears to be a flawed and morally questionable organization) even at risk of death or public denouncement. He does so even though it appears that most of human society has openly agreed with the reformed Federations xenophobic and somewhat racist and speciesist overtones. This essentially puts both Captain Shield and his crew at risk of being publicly lynched by an society that has adopted an mob mentality thus making them Randian figures in an almost extreme sense. Thus Shield is fighting not only against a restrictive system but against the majority of humanity as a whole. Within canon Jean-Luc Picard can also be perceived as an Randian character as well due to his closely and firmly held ideals in both the Federation and the central precepts of the Prime Directive. However it is due to this as well that Picard can also be perceived as Anti-Randian mainly due to the fact that Picard appears to hold his ideals so firmly at times that he seems to do so at the risk of not himself but other species who may face possible extinction due to the Prime Directives central order of non interference with less advanced species. This is centrally counter intuitive to Rand's philosophy of Rational egoism or Self-Interest which allows an individual to selfishly hold on to their own personal beliefs and ideals for ones own personal comfort but not intentionally at the cost of the comfort or happiness of others. Finally now we may delve into the final and central Dystopian story form in Star Trek... Mirror universe Roddenberryian This seems to be the main and central form that most Dystopian societies within Star Trek are presented. Roddenberryian Dystopian Fiction is seemingly the parallel opposite to the 2 other previous forms. Unlike the main characters or the general populace feeling either repressed or enslaved by their leaders as in Orwellian Fiction or having an single character sensing as if he or she is taking on the entire world by themselves as in Randian Fiction. Roddenberryian Fiction takes a 180. from those ideas and simply states that all or most members of an totalitarian species are in absolute agreement with whatever their ruling party dictates mainly because the overwhelming majority of the population already shares in this belief or ideal or shares the same ruthless or controlling attitude or personality as their own central leader. The main example of this is the Mirror Universe within the universes 1st appearance the Terran Empire appeared to have no internal traitors or people (except for Spock) that wished for the Empires downfall or to live a different existence then the one they already had. The reason for this was simple and (in joking ways) was reiterated many times over "Everyone in the Mirror Universe is Evil" or in other words nearly every one in this parallel reality was of a violent and ruthless like-mind. As so if their central dictatorship was destroyed or overthrown and simply replaced with an open and pacifist democracy most of humanity as well as many other species would have absolutely no outlet or reason for open violence which oddly enough within its own sense would be perceived as a form of reversed or "Mirrored" oppression by restricting most of society from violence and brutality instead of freedom and reason. Within a few years most of Humanity would be placed in incarceration and would leave the Earth nearly deserted. Category:Blog posts